Huskies 4 - 2 Phantoms

25th May 2019 - 3:15 pm
at IAW Cardiff

The Peterborough Phantoms traveled to Cardiff to face the Huskies in their opening game of the 2019 League campaign.

A new look Phantoms gave debuts for 3 new players (Ash Archer, Asg Greening and Louise Miller) as well as a Phantoms debut to Matthew Roche who joined the Club recently having previously iced for the Sheffield Steelkings.

A cagey opening period saw both teams cycling their lines as they looked to take control. David O’Meara, in the Phantoms goal, was being kept busy by the Huskies as Tyler Christopher and Paul Furber came close to giving the home side the lead.

Phantoms first, and only, shot on target in the first period came on 13:59, but they made it count. Scotty Trigg-Turner fired in a speculative shot from the half way line, that deceived Gareth Rees in the Huskies net, and bounced under him to give the visitors the lead at the first break, and their first bonus point.

The middle period saw the Huskies draw level after just 67 seconds of the period. Veteran Russell Willey found Furber with an inch perfect pass, releasing Furber and Christopher on a 2v2 attack against the Phantoms defence. As they bore down on the Phantoms net, Furbers pass setup Christopher to take the puck around O’Meara and slot it into the empty goal.

Having seen Scotty score from distance for the Phantoms opener, they were now peppering the Huskies goal with shots from all over the ice. Despite coming close to claiming the lead, the Phantoms instead found themselves behind on 23:04 when Furber set Tyler Christopher off on a breakaway which ended with a second Huskies goal.

Huskies made it 3-1 just three minutes later as Dan Worth netted his first ever goal. Former Phantoms Josh Campbell picked up the puck on the boards and fired the puck across the Phantoms goal, where Worth was able to deflect it under O’Meara’s diving body and into the net.

Christopher then had a goal waved off for High Sticks, which helped raise the Phantoms spirits.

All of the Phantoms kept fighting, and with just 17 seconds left of the period made it a 1 goal game. Ash Greening picked up the puck just inside the Phantoms half and broke away with Huskies in hot pursuit. She kept her cool and picked her moment to shoot. Gareth Rees, in the Huskies goal, made a pad save from the shot, but could only watch in despair as the rebound fell to Scotty Trigg-Turner who lifted the puck over him and into the net.

The final period saw the Phantoms start to tire as the game went on, but they still refused to give up and hand the victory to the Huskies. With just over a minute left of the game, the Huskies got the decisive goal when Furber and Christopher broke through for a clean breakaway, and this time it was Furber who delivered the final shot into the Phantoms goal to make it 4-2 to the homeside.

Huskies took the win and 2 bonus points, whilst the Phantoms claim a bonus point for winning the opening period.

Next up for the Phantoms is a home tie against the Manchester Mayhem at 4:15pm on the 1st of June. On the same day, Cardiff host the Sheffield Steelkings at 3:15pm.